Films & Schedules
- Saturday, February 20, 2010

THE WIND JOURNEYS

DIRECTOR: Ciro Guerra - COLOMBIA

Ignacio Carrillo, a retired musician, journeys to return his supposedly cursed accordion to his old teacher. Along the way, he picks up a teenage boy who dreams of becoming a wandering musician like Ignacio. This touching odd-couple story mixes the evocative landscapes of Colombia with the magic of its music to tell a timeless tale.

Ignacio Carrillo, old and retired, has spent his life traveling through the villages of Northern Colombia playing traditional songs on his accordion, a legendary instrument that was said to be cursed because it had supposedly been won in a musical duel with the devil himself. When his wife suddenly dies, he bitterly vows to never play again and decides to make one last journey—to return the accordion to the man who gave it to him, his teacher and mentor. Setting out on his donkey, he is set upon by a young teenager with romantic dreams of becoming a nomadic minstrel like Ignacio. Reluctant to take him along, Ignacio relents, but in the course of their journey tries to convince him that the life of a minstrel can only lead to solitude and sadness. This touching odd-couple story mixes the evocative landscapes of Colombia with the magic of its music to tell a timeless tale.

Filmography: The Wandering Shadows (02).

This year’s Colombian submission for the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar.

MOOMIN AND MIDSUMMER MADNESS

DIRECTOR: Maria Lindberg - FINLAND

When a volcanic eruption forces the Moomin family to take refuge in an old theater, Moominpappa decides to write a play for the family to perform.

Based on Tove Jansson’s well-loved “Moomin” books, this visually striking animated film will delight young children and big kids alike. A tranquil summer day is interrupted by a volcanic eruption, causing a flood in the Moominvalley. The water rises higher and higher in Moominhouse, forcing the family to take refuge in a strange house that floats by. The unusual lifeboat turns out to be a theatre. Moominpappa begins to write a play for the others to perform.

GIGANTE

DIRECTOR: Adrián Biniez - URUGUAY

The story of a supermarket security guard's obsession with a late-shift janitor.

Jara (Horacio Camandule) spends his nights as a security guard on the graveyard shift at a Montevideo supermarket in stoic silence—eating pastries, doing crossword puzzles, and watching the confines of his world go by on a bank of TV monitors. Something stirs in Jara, though, when he catches sight of a cleaning woman (Leonor Svarcas) in the fluorescent glare of the empty supermarket floor. Too shy to speak, he begins following the woman after work, decoding her secrets while continuing to deny his own. Will the gentle giant ever summon the courage to approach her? Set against the dreary background of economic recession and distinguished by Camandule’s heart-wrenching performance, this nearly silent one-way love story—which the director himself considers “a subversion of the classic … romantic comedy”—earned three awards at the 2009 Berlin Film Festival, including the Silver Bear and the Best Debut Film Prizes.

DON’T WORRY, IT’S A NEW CENTURY

WAKING SLEEPING BEAUTY

DIRECTOR: Don Hahn - UNITED STATES

Don Hahn's engaging look at the resurgence of the Disney company's animation tradition.

By the mid-1980s, the once mighty Disney Animation Studios were in a slump. Despite a flock of eager and talented young animators, innovation at the studio was held at bay by an old guard of conservative original-era executives. By the end of the 1990s, however, Disney had produced a string of bona fide hits from Who Framed Roger Rabbit? to The Lion King. What can account for this turnaround? Director Don Hahn is a 30-year Walt Disney Studios veteran, and his juicy behind-the-scenes tell-all of this transitional period is an encyclopedia of first-hand footage, drawings, and interviews detailing all the in-fights and ego trips, unequivocal failures and soaring successes, tragic lows and elating highs of the Disney renaissance.

SONS OF CUBA

DIRECTOR: Andrew Lang - GREAT BRITAIN

Sons of Cuba follows three boys at the prestigious Havana Boxing Academy as they prepare for the 2006 National Boxing Championship of Under-12’s.

Sons of Cuba is set in the legendary Havana Boxing Academy, no ordinary institution: this is a boarding school that handpicks nine-year-old boys and turns them into the best boxers in the world. The results have been stunning—Cuba has dominated Olympic boxing for the past quarter of a century. The boys’ duties extend far beyond the ring: they are groomed not only as world-class fighters, but also as international symbols of their country. Castro dubs them “the standard bearers of the Revolution.” Lang follows three young hopefuls through eight dramatic months of training and schooling as they prepare for the biggest event of their lives, Cuba’s National Boxing Championship for Under-12’s. During the season, crisis strikes: Fidel Castro, the boys’ leader and inspiration, is taken ill, and all of Cuba’s Olympic boxing champions defect to the USA, leaving the boys contemplating a future which is altogether different from the one they have been taught to believe in.

THE LETTER FOR THE KING

DIRECTOR: Pieter Verhoeff - NETHERLANDS

The Letter for the King follows the medieval quest of sixteen-year old Tiuri, who risks his future as a knight to fulfill a promise, and in so doing discovers adventure, honor, valor, and love.

Based on the story by Tonke Dragt, The Letter for the King brings one of the most popular young-adult books in Dutch history vividly to life in this knights-on-horseback adventure. Sixteen-year-old Tiuri sets out on a dangerous journey marked by sword-clanging battles and unexpected help from a beautiful princess. On the eve of becoming a knight, he must sacrifice his own dreams when he promises a dying messenger that he will deliver an extremely important letter to the King. Join Tuiri on his perilous, life-changing journey through mountain, forest, and valley where not only lives but also kingdoms hang in the balance.

REMBRANDT’S J’ACCUSE

DIRECTOR: Peter Greenaway - NETHERLANDS

In this companion piece to Nightwatching (PIFF 32), Greenaway, a former painter, deconstructs Rembrandt's The Night Watch and examines it in terms of the time and place it was completed, and the controversy surrounding its accusation of murder.

In Rembrandt’s J’Accuse, Greenaway deconstructs The Night Watch, the greatest of the Dutch master’s portraits of Holland’s 17th-century militias. Greenaway, who began his career as a painter, takes the painting apart plane by plane and reads it the way it was read in 1642 after Rembrandt completed it: as an outrageous piece of theater in which the painter bit the aristocratic hand that fed him by embedding within the painting a sensational charge of murder. “A scholarly yet broadly accessible illustrated lecture that examines the Dutch master’s most famous painting for proof that it was responsible for his dramatic fall from grace. A companion piece to Greenaway’s Nightwatching [PIFF 32], this film brims with juicy conspiracy theories and forensic investigations worthy of top-tier TV crime drama.”—Variety. “Just because you have eyes does not mean you can see.”—Peter Greenaway.

YANG YANG

DIRECTOR: Cheng Yu-Chieh - TAIWAN

This coming-of-age story follows a young Eurasian woman in Taipei as she transitions from high-school athlete to aspiring actress.

“Cheng Yu-Chieh has made a vibrantly alive coming-of-age story, combining contemporary energy with a French New Wave vibe. Young Eurasian high schooler Yang Yang is played by Taiwan’s most popular young indie movie muse Sandrine Pinna, whose half-Taiwanese, half-French looks are integrated into the film’s heart. Yang Yang’s best friend, her half sister Xiao-ru, is a rival both on the track and in their love lives. When Xiao-ru’s boyfriend falls for Yang Yang, jealousies explode in an act of shocking betrayal, changing Yang Yang’s life forever. A friendly manager Ming-ren takes her under his wing and her career as a model/actress takes off, thanks to her mixed ancestry and his tender care and training. Visually and thematically, Yang Yang precisely articulates, via sex, scandal, and heartbreak, that shaky, unstable, exhilarating moment between adolescence and adulthood.”—Vancouver Film Festival.

A TOWN CALLED PANIC

DIRECTOR: Stéphane Aubier, Vincent Patar - BELGIUM

This surreal, stop-motion adaptation of a popular European television show has Cowboy, Indian, and Horse traveling through space and time on a quest to free their wrongly imprisoned neighbor. A gleefully surreal treat for animation fans of all ages.

This thoroughly delightful, surreal stop-motion animated fantasy tells of an eccentric provincial village and its beguiling inhabitants. The impetuous Cowboy and Indian, eager to buy a birthday gift for their more mature roommate, Horse, accidentally set off a chain of events that destroys their residence and places their innocent neighbor behind bars. Setting out to right their wrongs, Cowboy and Indian are joined by Horse and taken on a journey to the center of the earth, across a frozen tundra, and into a bizarre underwater parallel universe. Rendered in a completely charming style, this feature film version of a popular European television program will thrill animation lovers of all ages.

STRONGMAN

DIRECTOR: Zachary Levy - UNITED STATES

Strongman is a moving story of determination and heart in the face of the hard facts of life.

South Brunswick, New Jersey, is home to Stanley “Stanless Steel” Pleskun, the self-proclaimed “Strongest Man in the World at Bending Steel and Metal.” He can leg-press two-ton trucks, bend pennies with his fingers, and perform many other homemade acts of extreme strength, concentration, and focus. But Stan, now middle-aged, needs a plan, for as Levy’s affectionate portrait reveals, success—in both his professional and personal life—takes another kind of strength and savvy. Filmed over the course of several years as Stan struggles to be taken more seriously than a kids’ birthday party attraction, maintain his rocky relationship with his girlfriend, and stay on the bright side, the one thing that can’t weaken is attitude. The winner of the Grand Jury Award for Best Documentary Feature at the Slamdance Film Festival, Strongman is a moving story of determination and heart in the face of the hard facts of life.

REYKJAVIK-ROTTERDAM

DIRECTOR: Óskar Jónasson - ICELAND

Financial concerns tempt an ex-con to return to his smuggling ways in this taut psychological thriller.

Ex-con Kristófer, recently released from a jail term for smuggling alcohol while working on a freighter, now works as a lowly-paid security guard. Bored with his dreary existence and struggling to support his family, he is tempted when his friend Steingrímur offers to help him get back his old job on the ship—which would provide the opportunity to do one last smuggling job on a freighter between Reykjavik and Rotterdam. Contending not only with the suspicious local police, but also with a captain who mistrusts him and a psychopathic Dutch criminal, Kristófer sets out on his mission to solve his financial woes. Reykjavik-Rotterdam’s gritty naturalism is evocatively realized by the work of Jar City cinematographer Bergsteinn Björgúlfsson and hardened performances from a fine cast.

Filmography: SLC-25 (90), Remote Control (92), Pearls and Swine (97).

This year’s Icelandic submission for the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar.

EVERYONE ELSE

DIRECTOR: Maren Ade - GERMANY

Chris and Gitti are a happy couple on the surface, but when they meet a happier, more successful couple on vacation, their fragile relationship starts to fall apart.

On the surface, architect Chris and his girlfriend Gitti seem to enjoy perfect, amorous bliss during a getaway on their Sardinia vacation. But their playful romps, secret rituals, and silly habits hide an underlying tension. The two are actually polar opposites. Full of verve, the idiosyncratic Gitti is fearless in expressing her love and devotion for Chris, while he is more reserved in his outlook on life and crippled by varying degrees of personal and professional insecurity. When this odd couple casually meets a happier and more successful couple, everything starts to fall apart. Taking a leaf out of the other couple’s book, Chris tries to show his willful girlfriend who’s boss (he thinks it’s him). Gitti attempts to conform to his new ideal, but what begins as a playful experiment soon turns into a quiet struggle with her own personality. Thanks to their newly developed personas, Chris and Gitti get a second chance to be as happy as everyone else.

WELCOME

DIRECTOR: Philippe Lioret - FRANCE

Welcome tells the story of a young Kurd, Bilal, who aims to swim to England from Calais, and the swimming instructor who agrees to train him for the treacherous crossing.

Managing to be political without being heavy-handed, Welcome focuses on illegal immigrants trying to reach England from Calais, and the risk taken by the French people who help them. Bilal, a 17-year-old Kurdish refugee, left his native Iraq shortly after his girlfriend emigrated to England, and wants to join her. His trek across Europe comes to an abrupt end on the northern coast of France. How to get across the cold English Channel? He decides to head for the local swimming pool to begin training for the swim of his life. There he meets lifeguard Simon, to whom he eventually confides his grand plan. Simon takes Bilal under his wing and secretly teaches him how to do the crawl, despite ongoing threats from the police, who imprison those who aid a growing community nurturing an inextinguishable hope of making a new life in the West.

Selected Filmography: Lost In Transit (93), Don’t Make Trouble (01), The Light (04).

Sponsored by TV5MONDE and with support from the Cultural Services of the French Embassy.

THE SHOCK DOCTRINE

DIRECTOR: Michael Winterbottom, Mat Whitecross - GREAT BRITAIN

An investigation of "disaster capitalism", based on Naomi Klein's proposition that neo-liberal capitalism feeds on natural disasters, war, and terror to establish its dominance.

“Based on the best-selling book by Naomi Klein, The Shock Doctrine seeks to explain the rise of disaster capitalism: the exploitation of moments of crisis in vulnerable countries by governments and big business. The film traces the doctrine’s beginnings in the radical theories of Milton Friedman at the University of Chicago, and its subsequent implementation over the past 40 years in countries as disparate as Augusto Pinochet’s Chile, Boris Yeltsin’s Russia, Margaret Thatcher’s Great Britain, and most recently through the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq. Filmmakers Michael Winterbottom and Mat Whitecross use a brand of artistic license to present a cinematic experience that takes this theory to a new audience. Warning: After viewing this film, you may interpret our world history in a new light.”—Sundance Film Festival.

LETTERS TO FATHER JACOB

DIRECTOR: Klaus Härö - FINLAND

When Leila is pardoned after serving 12 years of a life sentence, she agrees to work as an assistant to Father Jacob, answering the letters of those who write asking for his help. Although she regards the pastor’s correspondence as pointless, the letters ultimately play a role in her redemption.

A simple but transcendent story about faith and human frailty, Letters to Father Jacob achieves a state of grace. Surprised when she is pardoned 12 years into a life sentence, hard-bitten killer Leila (Kaarina Hazard) takes the prison warden’s suggestion and winds up at the ramshackle rural parsonage of Father Jacob. The blind elderly man needs an assistant to pursue his main joy in life: answering the letters of those who write to ask for his help. Although Leila regards the pastor’s correspondence as pointless, it ultimately plays a role in her own redemption and heart-rending self-forgiveness.

Filmography: As If I Didn’t Exist (02), Mother of Mine (05), The New Man (07).

This year’s Finnish submission for the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar.

DAWSON ISLA 10

DIRECTOR: Miguel Littin - CHILE

Dawson, Isla 10 focuses on the imprisonment of advisors close to the deposed socialist government of president Salvador Allende. The men were jailed and endured hellish conditions on the island, the world's southernmost concentration camp, for more than a year.

After the military coup in 1973, deposed President Salvador Allende’s closest collaborators and ministers were locked up in a concentration camp on Dawson Island, lying at the western entrance to the Strait of Magellan. They are assigned numbers instead of names. Their lives are spared thanks to pressure from the International Red Cross, but they are not spared from torture and forced labor. Thirty years later, some survivors return to the island and rediscover the place where they learned to survive in such extreme conditions. Miguel Littin, who spent many years living in exile and to whom writer Gabriel Garcia Marquez dedicated his book “Clandestine in Chile: The Adventures of Miguel Littin,” took inspiration for his drama from the autobiography by Sergio Bitar, one of Allende’s ministers.

Filmography: The Promised Land (71), Letter From Marusia (76), Alsino and the Condor (82), The Shipwreck (94), The Last Man (05).

This year’s Chilean submission for the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar.

WILD GRASS

DIRECTOR: Alain Resnais - FRANCE

“Resnais delivers a career-crowning masterpiece with this delightful roundelay, based on Christian Gailly’s novel ‘The Incident,’ about the fate-altering ripples triggered by a seemingly ordinary purse snatching. The purse belongs to Marguerite (Sabine Azéma), a dentist who moonlights as an aviatrix. Its contents are retrieved by Georges (André Dussollier), a married man who soon finds himself infatuated with the purse’s owner, even though he hasn’t actually met her yet. Add in a couple of keystone cops, some dizzying aerial acrobatics, and the glorious camerawork of cinematographer Eric Gautier and you have the recipe for a uniquely playful meditation on coincidence and desire that suggests Resnais, at age 87, is truly in his prime.”—New York Film Festival.

THE WEDDING SONG

DIRECTOR: Karin Albou - TUNISIA

Set in Tunis during the Nazi occupation, The Wedding Song is the story of the powerful friendship between Nour, a Muslim, and Myriam, a Jew.

Karin Albou returns to the themes of her first film, La Petite Jerusalem (PIFF 30), in The Wedding Song, mapping the intersection of Jewish and Arab cultures and exploring female sexuality. Unfolding against the backdrop of the German occupation of Tunis in 1942, this sensual and sexually frank story centers around two teen friends, Jewish Myriam and Muslim Nour, who have long desired the other’s life. Although far more interested in love than war, both girls find historical circumstances affecting their wedding plans. The occupying Nazis demand “reparation payments” from the Tunisian Jews, which Myriam’s impoverished mother cannot pay. Out of options, she promises Myriam’s hand to wealthy, older doctor Raoul. Meanwhile, Nour is happily betrothed to her handsome cousin Khaled, but her father postpones the wedding until Khaled gets a job. Unfortunately, Khaled finds work with the Germans, helping to round up Tunisian Jews.